*Live Blog* The Hollywood Reporter's Actors Roundtable

Y'all remember when I did this for the ladies so I figure it's twin-time. You have to have both pieces of a matching set. Not that I'm looking forward to this one as much. Impress or surprise me fellas! You're not actresses so you have to work harder to provide Film Experience jollies. (If you have time to watch the full video it's at the bottom of the post.)

1:00 Robert Duvall (Get Low) tells a rambling story about becoming an actor and reveals "my brothers were both professional singers." The Duvall Brothers, eh? I so wanna hear that record. Would it be like the Osmonds except with less smiling?

3:00 The discussion turns to acting as a rewarding profession. Colin Firth (The King's Speech) picks up this Duvall baton.

"You get to play all your life. Most people have to grow out of it. The fantasy thing stays alive which is wonderful. It can be a little hard on the people living with you..."

  He then reveals the dangers in staying a child when you're a grown-up. Those who do get very susceptible to external matters of fame; they become needy about attention and far too giddy if someone pats them on the back.

4:00 The first laugh of the hour comes from Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right) who pats Firth on the back. Right then.

Blazing young star and seasoned professional.

 6:03 Firth is still talking three minutes later but the thing that struck me here is realizing how young Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine) is. He just turned 30 two weeks ago. I never think about this but seeing him in this context I'm suddenly like 'oh, yes. baby star' Sometimes I forget that though actresses are regularly giant stars in their 20s, the male actors take longer to ascend. 

7:00 This is funny. The reporters try to lead Firth to name projects he hated.

Read more »

B-Day.

Jose here.

Marlon Brando would've turned 86 today. When he died he left behind a filmography any thespian would envy and admire, as he created not one, or two but three (arguably four) of the most iconic characters in cinema history.

He was also so pretty to look at...

With that said here's a few ways to celebrate him.

Ride a bike ● buy a small island off Tahiti ● go to a fast food restaurant at 3 A.M. ● marry a woman seven years your senior ● watch The Godfather ● be a "wild one" ● tease your sister-in-law (not to the point of mental breakdown though) ● watch Viva Zapata! ● have Robert de Niro play a younger version of you ● convince people that you can sing and star in a musical ● have Madonna mention you in one of her songs ● appear in a Michael Jackson video ● team up with Sophia Loren ● get married again ● watch Mutiny on the Bounty ● father a superhero ●



Make someone an offer they can't refuse ● go nuts and disappear into a jungle ● be Johnny Depp's shrink ● put oranges in your mouth ● scream "hey StelLLAAAAAA" (works better if you know an actual Stella) ● watch Sayonara ● revolutionize acting ● win an Oscar ● befriend Sacheen Littlefeather ● win another Oscar and send your new friend to claim it ● watch Reflections in a Golden Eye ● steal Jean-Pierre Léaud's girl ● look awesome in white t-shirts ● play a schoolteacher ● get married one last time ● get creative with butter ● direct a western ● watch A Streetcar Named Desire ● make controversial statements on Larry King ● defend human rights ● befriend Jack Nicholson ● pick up Eva Marie Saint's glove and play with it ● watch Apocalypse Now ● Be a contender

Coulda Been

I had that bum all figured out. He had a good left hand you know what I mean. All right so I let him tag me with the left hand for a couple a rounds. So just when he starts... he thinks he's getting cute, I step inside and Jab with the left. With the right. With the left. I had him in my arms and from there on in we were just dancing.

And that's a fact

Where My Heart Lies: My Favorite Actors. And Yours?

instead of a tues top 10, a 25.

I did this once for the actresses but I'm always giving the ladies their due. So, here's to the silver screen men that have enriched my movie-life. I admit up front that I haven't investigated Classic Hollywood actors to the extent I've investigated their leading ladies, so this list is highly subject to change the more old movies I see in my life.

Nathaniel's 25 all time favorite leading men
In no particular order and extremely subject to change

Gene Kelly | Tony Leung Chiu-Wai |
Montgomery Clift | Jeff Bridges | Paul Newman

Jude Law | James Dean | William Holden | Gene Hackman | Rock Hudson
Jack Lemmon | Gael García Bernal | Ewan McGregor | James Stewart | Gregory Peck
Steve Martin | Marlon Brando | Jack Nicholson | Burt Lancaster | Richard Burton
Brad Pitt | Johnny Depp | Cary Grant | Warren Beatty | William Hurt

Because sometimes you just want to name names

The list is not comprehensive, not set in stone, not entirely defendable. But they're the ones I love best. The ones I somehow feel are mine. Not that you can't share them.

Post your top 20 at your personal web home -- no explanations necessary, just photos -- and I'll link up!

P.S. 1 I'm already pretty sure I forgot someone important
P.S. 2 Your lists go here... send me your links.


A Blogwork Orange mixes icons like Bogie with modern tastes like Buscemi
Award Talk likes the formal gentlemen Ralph Fiennes, Sir Laurence Olivier and Leslie Howard. and other staples like Clark Gable and Cary Grant
Encore Entertainment gives props to greats that just missed my list like Ed Harris, Albert Finney and Dustin Hoffman
Runs Like a Gay goes retro with James Mason, Spencer Tracy and Alec Guinness
All That Film classics Astaire & O'Toole /modern giants Penn & DiCaprio


Cheerful Cynicism has a quirky mix including Yul Brynner (love!), Clark Gable (I didn't use to like him... but I'm slowly converting I must say), Hugh Jackman and more...
A Cinema Neophyte mostly modern with inspired choices and good pics
Journalistic Skepticism Penn, Hanks, Brando, Stewart and Jack lead
Many Rantings of John ranks his list. Douglas places. Welles and Brando rule
For Your Speculation gives a shout out to some typically supporting guys: Delroy Lindo, Chris Cooper and Peter Sarsgaard. Well played


Theme For Great Cities Bardem, Crudup and Strathairn... oh my
City of Angels ooh, Anthony Perkins and Claude Rains. Yay.
Sorta That Guy covers his favorites: Bernal, Gosling, Franco, Cheadle
Nick's Flick Picks tiered favorites. Chaplin. Fredric March & Sean Penn
Douglas Racso a wondrously international grab bag: Coco Martin, Max von Sydow, Daniel Auteuil, Gael García Bernal, Sir Ian McKellen


Film Away recently went mad for movies: Depp, Foxx, Clooney, Pacino
Reel Artsy Joaquin, Josh, Takeshi (sigh), Tobey
Rants of a Diva did his list ages ago. What took me so long?
A Blog Next Door calls his list "hodgepodge"... Caine, Broadbent, Owen, Marsden
Ferdy on Films is magnetized by Rudolph Valentino's eyes among others: Keir Dullea, Eduardo Noriega, Charles Durning


StinkyLulu is, like me, a dedicated actressexual. But we manage to find room for a few screen gods in our devotions all the same. Can you name the actor and the role?
Situated Laundry makes a vanilla bingo board and adds stage actors. I approve
Gratia Artis Peter Lorre, Charles Laughton, Robert Mitchum
The Sheila Variations ranks them. Mickey Rourke is back on top. Stockwell, Widmark, Duvall and Cooper also place.
new BookeyWookey Oleg Menshikov, Matthieu Kassovitz and Romain Duris. Mmmm x 3
newest Goatdog Penn and Cagney reign
*

Karl Malden (RIP)

<--- Marlon Brando, Nick Dennis, Rudy Bond and Karl Malden in Broadway's original production of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1947 [via]

This past week has been very rough on the entertainment industry and our cultural history. Today, with Karl Malden's death, we've lost the last remaining principal cast member of Tennessee William's legendary play turned movie A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Now, Malden's career was much larger than mama's boy Harold "Mitch" Mitchel but that classic role, which he originated and owned, is a vital part of his legacy.

Strangely, Jessica Tandy's TONY honor (the original "Blanche DuBois") was the show's only attention from 'Broadway's Oscars' if you will. All the principles transferred to the movie except Tandy who was replaced by the cinema's most legendary southern belle (even though she was British) Vivien Leigh. When it came to the Oscars, three of the four actors (including Malden) collected statues. In typical Oscar fashion the performance most often regarded as game changing for the entire art of acting (Brando's) was the one snubbed on Oscar night. That's not a knock on the other indelible performances, don't misunderstand. It's a knock on Oscar. I'm getting off track but it's a sore spot for me as I'll never understand the instant or enduring love for The African Queen.

Malden was very prolific in the 50s and 60s and his second most treasured performance is probably his man of the cloth role in another Elia Kazan / Marlon Brando film, On the Waterfront (1954). Other enduring features include Baby Doll (1956, pictured right), Pollyanna (1960) The Birdman of Alcatraz and Gypsy (1962), Patton (1970) and Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979).

Goodbye Mitch.
Rest in peace.

Vivien Leigh (1913-1967)
Marlon Brando (1924-2004)
Kim Hunter (1922-2002)
Karl Malden (1912-2009)

New Podcast: On Kate Winslet, Mickey Rourke and Slumdog Millionaire

First things first, big hugs and gratitude to my blog buddies Nick, Joe and Katey who agreed to return to the podcast after your requests for a reunion tour. Please follow those links to check out their home bases.

In the latest episode (53 minutes ~ we couldn't shut up) we discuss Kate Winslet's double win at the Globes, Slumdog fanaticism, our Oscar pipe dreams, the beauty of Brad Pitt, the dogs of Mickey Rourke, the assumed purpose and ultimate futility of Guild Awards and, because we're silly, a remake of A Streetcar Named Desire. "Stellaaaaaaaaaa!"

(Because it's a Globe/Oscar broadcast we're unusually star focused. Also name-checked: Salma Hayek, Penélope Cruz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Anne Hathaway, Gwyneth Paltrow,Frank Langella, Eileen Atkins, JLo, Tina Fey, Renée Zellweger and Sean Penn)

The best option is the iTunes version i.e. the enhanced podcast but you can listen to the simplified mp3 if you don't have an enhanced player.

20:07 (Stanley, The Uncouth)

screenshots from the 20th minute and 7th second of a movie
I can't guarantee the same results at home (different players/timing) I use a VLC

Stanley: Now will you just open your eyes to this stuff here. What -- she got this out of teachers pay? Will you look at these fine feathers and furs that she comes to preen herself with in here? What is this article? That’s a solid gold dress I believe.

Stella: Oh honestly

Stanley: And this one here and what –what is this a fine piece of genuine fur fox a half a mile long? Where are your fox pieces?

That Stanley. He sure doesn't like to get swindled.


He's OK with the sweating and the ogling, though. Feel free to stare.

Miyoshi Umeki (1929-2007)

Miyoshi Umeki, the first (and only) Asian actress to win an Oscar died last week from cancer. Her Oscar arrived once she played opposite Marlon Brando in Sayonara (1957) --Brando was a good luck Oscar charm for a lot of other actors wasn't he? Miyoshi won her Oscar in late March and was on the cover of TIME for her work in Broadway's Flower Drum Song by December. Quite a year she had in '58, huh?

Discussions of Oscar and ethnicity go way back but they usually focus, rather simplistically, on the black & white topic. Since Umeki's Oscar win I believe only four actresses of Asian descent have made the Oscar shortlist: Shohreh Aghdashloo (03), The Tilly sisters (a decade apart in 85 and 94), and Rinko Kikuchi just last year. And they're all in the supporting category [src]

There've been more men. But unless I'm forgetting someone and apart from arguably Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai) no major Asian movie stars have ever been nominated for an Oscar. Most of the nominees have not been particularly famous prior to their honors. In other words there's no Tony Leungs, Gong Lis, Toshirô Mifunes, Aishwarya Rais or Maggie Cheungs in Oscar's history book.

Monty Got a Raw Deal

Blog-a-thon Announcement
Today is the 41st anniversary of the death of Montgomery Clift also known as 'the longest suicide in Hollywood history' or as doctors put it "coronary occlusion". He was 45. Now is the time to officially announce the next Film Experience blog-a-thon.

Montgomery Clift ~ October 17th, 2007
UPDATE: THE BLOG-A-THON IS HERE

As longtime TFE readers know my cat is named after my favorite actor, Montgomery Clift. I like to think that my furry friend is paying homage to the tragic star during his frequent brooding moods. For what classic film star is more inexplicably sad?

Ah, perhaps inexplicable is not the right word. 'Monty Got a Raw Deal' (as REM put it) didn't he? He was troubled by addictions. He suffered through a car accident that marred his considerable beauty and acting ability. He was unable to deal with his sexuality. The last sad straw: though influential as an actor, history likes to pretend that Marlon Brando alone revolutionized acting. They were peers and friends and once even shared a nickname in Hollywood "the gold dust twins" for their near-simultaneous meteoric rise to fame.

Let's give Clift his place in the (internet) sun on October 17th --his 87th birthday had he lived. There's a LOT to talk about. Any Monty-connected topic is fine. First and foremost there's 17 films:

The Search, Red River, The Heiress, The Big Lift, A Place in the Sun, I Confess, Indiscretion of an American Housewife, From Here to Eternity, Raintree Country, Lonelyhearts, The Young Lions, Suddenly Last Summer, Wild River, The Misfits, Judgment at Nuremberg, Freud, The Defector

Many of those are classics...seriously, what a filmography! Now would be a good time to screen a couple. Other topics of interested: queer Hollywood in the 50s, Oscar battles, and Monty's famous Hollywood friendships with Monroe, Dean Martin, and of course Liz Taylor (his most frequent co-star). The classic film lovers should come out in force for this one and I hope that younger bloggers will take the time to discover him. Monty has detractors too (you know who you are) but anyone is welcome to participate.


.

Tuesday Top Ten: Bald Heads

tuesday top ten: new series for the list lover in you and the list maker in me

I wasn't going to go here but as I logged into my blogger HQ Britney Spears started playing on my iTunes (to paraphrase the song she's singing to me right now: she drives me crazy. Seriously, girl, pull it together). You may have heard a million times in the past 24 hours that Britney Spears has shaved her head. Some people look hot with a shaved head (Natalie Portman, take a bow). Some people do not (sorry Britney). I shaved my head last week but somehow I didn't end up on CNN or ET. What gives?

10 Favorite Bald-Headed Characters
This list is dedicated to Oscar, the most coveted bald-headed man on the planet.


10 Channing Tatum. Shaved heads count. Any excuse to post pictures...

09 "Tommy" Hugh Jackman in The Fountain. Hugh has beeyootiful hair but if you're gonna be straight up bald for a third of a movie, you might as well pair it with pajamas, tai chi and floating bubbles of light for the maximum memorable factor (previous Hugh drooling)

08 Silver Surfer. A literal embodiment of the "chrome dome" I loved loved loved this character in the comics. But I can't believe they're going to try and movie-ize him. This is not a transferrable character... on account of the unintentional giggles factor. A character who flies around on a surfboard through outer space? In a movie?

07 Bruce Willis. If we're talking action stars, give me Willis's empty dome over Nic Cage's plugs and wigs any second of any day forever. Thank you.

06 Bjork in the "Hunter" video. Björk doesn't look conventionally attractive bald (Britney is not alone) but one of the greatest things about this icelandic genius is her complete lack of vanity. Everything is in service to the art. And this video is striking.



05 Sinéad O'Connor back in the day. It started with the totally brilliant "The Lion and the Cobra" which we 80s new wave kids worshipped. The rest of the world freaked out en masse when "Nothing Compares 2 U" arrived and shot to the top of the charts. I never thought I'd be comparing Sinéad to Britney but she also kinda lost it in the fires of white hot fame. Not everyone can handle it.

04 "Ripley". Never mind that pesky prison colony lice infestation that prompted the buzz job--this was a great look. Somehow Sigourney Weaver's signature character was even fiercer and sexier in the underappreciated Alien³.

03 "Colonel Kurtz" in Apocalypse Now. Our first glimpse of Marlon Brando as the mad Colonel all bathed in shadows has to be one of the great entrances in film history. (personal canon entry)

02 Yul Brynner as "Rameses" in The Ten Commandments I know it's terrible but I always wanted him to win when I watched this Biblical epic as a kid. Also: The King and I. "Etcetera etcetera etcetera"


01 Professor Xavier. Because all my life I wanted to attend "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters" in New York. I wanted to fly in the Blackbird. Take classes with Kitty Pryde. Train the Danger Room with Cyclops. And chase Nightcrawlers tail ... TMI. But anyway. I love Charles Xavier in print and onscreen (Patrick Stewart didn't disappoint in the films) and it's wonderful that there's at least one iconic bald comic book character that's not a super villain.

Related Post: A History of... Bald Women
Previous Tuesday Top Ten: Celebrity Couples

Murrow Speaks. Collette Rocks. AP & Brando Both Suck.

Film Epidemic's take on the resonant and skillful messaging in Good Night, and Good Luck.

IMDB tells us that Toni Collette is going to be touring for 2006. Much as I love me some Toni. I've seen Juliette Lewis' and Gina Gershon's career nosedive doing the same thing. Although maybe they're all doing it as a result of Hollywood not having enough use for their unique screen personas.

Just Jared has pics of Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale from Christopher Nolan's new project The Prestige. You'll remember that Joe Reid brought that potentially drool worthy film to our attention in October 2005.

An AP report that makes me crazy. Seriously how many strange assumptions and errors are in this thing (Chicago is an optimistic movie? Since when. More like joyously cynical. ) Anyway --somebody pay me quick. I know what I'm talking about! And for once can entertainment reporters think to ask someone besides Tom O'Neill for an opinion. Nothing against O'Neill. But damn the homogeny is zzzzz.

And 'What Would Tyler Durden Do?' doesn't care what they're saying about Brando. (warning: NSFW)

Heath Ledger is a Baby

Heath Ledger is 26 years old. Younger than me and some of you reading. Older than other awards watchers. But in terms of Oscar? That, my friends, is a newborn. He's barely out of the womb.

I was already aware that were Heath to pull off the miraculous feat of winning this March (provided he receives his expected nomination on January 31st) he would become the youngest competitive Oscar winner in the lead category for men. The current record holder is Adrien Brody for The Pianist. Mr. Brody won the Oscar just a few weeks before turning 30. Richard Dreyfuss of The Goodbye Girl was the previous record holder who had turned 30 a few months prior to his nomination. What I wasn't aware of was how far back you would have to go to even find a nominee as young or younger than Heath Ledger. Oh, sure I knew about the anomaly: Jackie Cooper had a Best Actor nomination for Skippy in 1931 when he was all of nine. But apart from that fluke, how young is too young for Oscar?

Turns out that 26 year-olds just don't compete for Best Actor prizes. 27 years old? They'll let that slide. Tom Cruise (Born on the 4th of July) and Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting) were both 27 when they received their first Oscar nominations. To find someone of comparable age or younger you have to travel back in time to 1977. John Travolta was 23 when nominated for Saturday Night Fever and 24 by the time of the ceremony in '78. Prior to that we travel back to 1963 when Tom Jones himself Albert Finney was in the running at, you guessed it, 27 years of age. Guess who else? Marlon Brando (A Streetcar Named Desire, 1951) the same screen legend that Heath's performance in Brokeback Mountain has drawn comparisons to, also 27.

So, did I ever find someone younger than Heath [besides John Travolta's disco dancer in 1977 -thanks to an anonymous reader who pointed that one out]? Yes. But you have to go back 50 years to do so. All the way back to that legendary rebel without a cause in 1955.

James Dean was 24 years old when East of Eden was released in 1955. He died tragically that same year before the release of his other iconic screen performances in Rebel Without a Cause and Giant. He was nominated twice posthumously for the Best Actor trophy first for East of Eden and then, again, the following year for Giant. Prior to Dean there are but three other exceptionally youthful nominated leads. Aside from the already mentioned Jackie Cooper, there's Mickey Rooney (Babes in Arms & The Human Comedy) twice nominated. Once at 19 and a second time at 23. Finally there is the famous case of Orson Welles who was Heath Ledger's age right now when he received four nominations, including Best Actor, for the legendaryCitizen Kane.

Brando, Finney, Welles, Cruise, Rooney --A mighty good company of men for Heath Ledger, our "Ennis Del Mar", to be in no matter how it all turns out on Oscar night in March of 2006. Don't you think?

Premiere's Top 50 Movie Stars

Another day. Another list. Whenever you get big media lists, they're always, naturally less idiosyncratic than individual list-making exercizes. But what they lack in fascinating quirk they make up for in their ability to represent generalized public opinion / time-capsule "who is hot" statements. That's the same reason why the Oscars can lean towards stupefyingly dull but still say interesting things about contemporary standards of quality.

Best thing? That Warren Beatty made it to the top 30. Even though the list is obviously slanted to right.this.very.second. because...
worst thing? Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise are higher than either Hepburn, Davis, Nicholson, Brando, and Streep? ??? Will Smith also appears. That's right: Will Smith. And he's also higher than Meryl Streep.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

After Depression era dance marathons, and bitchy dramedies, I thought I'd take an entirely different route for this week's Classic Movie. Since Jarhead opens tomorrow and all non action-genre war movies are invariably compared to this one, I thought it was time to re-shout hosannas to Apocalypse Now.

Despite the fact that Jarhead and any new film that plays in the 'war and what it does to the psyche' field will be dissed in relations to this movie, I have to say that I'm not sure that Apocalypse Now would receive the same shower of affection were it released fresh into the world today. It's tough to imagine a movie like this opening now and being widely hailed as a great film and also big hit. I see people scratching their heads, limited box office, and scattered critical hosannas --like say Dogville or Mulholland Drive. Resolutely idiosyncratic and feverishly hallucinogenic auteur pieces are not well loved today. They're usually polarizing. They receive lots of "what were they thinking?" "unsatisfying", "confusing," or "messy" comments in their critical dismissals, rather than becoming celebrated hits with 8 Oscar nominations. I'm not sure that audiences or critics like to grapple with challenging material in the way they used to--at least not as much as they used to.

And let's face it, Apocalypse Now is often downright confounding. For example: What exactly is the director doing revealing himself onscreen in the famous beach sequence? There he is in the midst of all the chaos shouting at his lead actor (Martin Sheen) to not look at the camera. It's a moment that would be unthinkable to see in an acclaimed film now. Yet, it's the moment in watching Apocalypse Now that I realized that I loved the film. The moment I became unhinged realizing that anything could happen in this film. The chaos became complete...something that was happening right there in my head as well as up onscreen. Coppola's vision had left the realm of the fever dream and morphed into a waking nightmare. By the time you reach the end of the river hours later you've completely absorbed the film's surrealities and you're as ready as the poor souls onscreen to be taken in by the insanity embodied in Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando).

But conjecture and description of audience response aside, Apocalypse Nowopened in the 1979 at the tail-end of that time period when both filmmakers and audiences embraced great and dark auteurial visions with regularity. Films with rough weird edges were welcome to the party back then. Francis Coppola was on one of cinema's all-time hotstreaks as he began this Vietnam film, having just made The Godfather, The Godfather II, and The Conversation back to back. WithApocalypse Now he forged another brutal classic --four in a row. What the making of this film did to him, as detailed in the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmakers Apocalypse, doesn't have as happy an ending. But great art, they say, has its price.

"the horror. the horror"

Contenders

I know you're all here looking for the next player in the Actress of the Aughts countdown (patience, readers, patience) but while you're visiting please vote on the Classic Male Movie Star Pollon the main site. I realize I always have too many things going on at once. Sue me. But Brando can't be the only masculine contender that works your fandom into a lather.

I know I suggested that a top 100 countdown of the xy variety would follow but we may have to take a little breaksie after this exhausting Actress Countdown concludes. And besides in less than two months awards season begins. Good times.